Tupolev Tu-104A Nickname “Brontosaurus” in Czechoslovakia
TAH ARCHIVE TAH ESPITE THE HEAVY rain on Friday, New York that October, was chaired by Pan Am June 15, 1956, a Tupolev Tu-104 of the President Juan Trippe and was the first time Soviet Union’s state airline Aeroflot that Československé státní aerolinie (Czechoslovak landed safely on Runway 22 at State Airlines — ČSA) and Poland’s Polskie Linie Ruzynĕ Airport (now Václav Havel Lotnicze LOT had participated in the conference Airport)D in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the since 1948. Czech Republic), with no need for the braking The Tu-104 represented a quantum leap in parachute. The aircraft, registered CCCP-L5413, technology and would bring challenges to the The had been produced in the manufacturer’s Kharkiv airlines bringing it into service. The new turbojet- OK-JET! factory and had made its maiden flight on powered airliner flew at speeds in excess of 560 December 30, 1955. The sleek new jetliner looked m.p.h. (900km/h) at 33,000ft (10,000m), requiring majestic and powerful, and quickly garnered the new techniques in numerous operational aspects, Tupolev Tu-104A nickname “Brontosaurus” in Czechoslovakia. including weather forecasting, the storage and The Tu-104, Nato reporting name Camel, distribution of kerosene (at that time a new type was essentially a civil derivative of the same of fuel), more precise radio navigation, the use company’s Tu-16 Badger bomber, the airliner of new airport equipment, the reinforcement in prototype making its maiden flight on June 17, and extension of existing airports and, last but Czechoslovakia 1955. Although Britain’s de Havilland D.H.106 not least, the development of onboard catering In November 1957 Czechoslovakian state airline ČSA entered the jet age when it took Comet had gained the crown as the world’s first services, which also saw a significant leap jet-powered aircraft to enter commercial service, in quality.
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